Description

The inhabitants of a certain country have always been travelers who journey towards a distant city. The roads are many, and numbers lose their way and perish.

Excerpt:

By orders of the King, a broad and easy road was therefore constructed, sign posts erected, an army of official guides trained to instruct and prevent wayfarers lagging or going astray. Originally these guides understood their work, and to avoid unnecessary delay, taught the energetic shorter routes; but as time passed on knowledge of the more difficult paths was gradually lost.

In order to keep the road easy, so that the weakest might progress, the road makes wide detours, often going many miles in quite the wrong direction to avoid some obstacle, for the country is rugged and difficult.

The sign posts belonging to this easy road are all painted the same color called "orthodox," the people being taught to look to these and the official guides for directions, a very good plan for the sickly and feeble, but irksome to the more robust, who find the easy gradients and windings tedious and progress towards the goal extremely slow, since the official guides no longer possess information about short cuts for the energetic.

A few years ago some of the travelers, hearing of the existence of an old road which is more direct, but for that reason more difficult, investigated for themselves, and finding how rapidly they got on, returned to tell their friends and to put up sign posts for this quicker route.

A few of the official guides welcomed this rediscovery and gladly passed it on to the others, saying: Why spend all your lives traveling, when by this direct path, that may be entered from any point of the easy road we have all trodden, you can by strong endeavor quickly reach the Golden City?

The majority of the officials, however, refuse to investigate the new route, and continue to do all in their power to prevent others doing so, disparaging the hopeful reports and giving out that "the easy road is the only route," and that these new ways must be avoided, for the following reasons: First, and most important - they say - the "sign posts" are not lettered with our alphabet! Secondly, although we must admit that personally we do not know anything of the people who erected them, we assure you that they are deceivers and of evil character!

For many centuries Europe has been in spiritual darkness, but there are signs of a spiritual dawn now being perceived by people in all parts of the world; for though the majority may shut their intelligence to these signs, and refuse to see them, this does not prevent the light increasing.

The sailor knows that in the dim and uncertain light of dawn mistakes are possible, that too great reliance must not be placed on what is seen.

Still the navigator does not refuse the assistance of the dawn; on the contrary, he hails it with gratitude, putting all his attention into making the most use of it for the safety of his vessel. In addition to what he can see for himself, he listens to the reports of others, and before acting applies every test suggested by his knowledge, experience and common sense.

We should have a poor opinion of the captain of a ship who, on receiving reports, said: "No, I see nothing, your imagination is running away with you, it is absurd to pretend to see things which I do not see myself," and who paid no attention to the warning, or who on the other hand, when an unexpected light was reported, immediately jumped to the conclusion that it indicated danger and altered course to avoid what a little investigation would have shown to be the glimmer of a friendly lighthouse warning him that he is out of his reckoning.